A Polishing Cloth Is a Rag

When I was but a child, my Mother taught me, not only, many of life’s lessons, but also, God’s greatest lessons. My Mom, many times, unfolded the pages of the Bible not by opening up God’s Book but through unlocking God’s Word through unzipping my soul to the symbolism within worldly chores. One such instance was the day my Mother decided I was ready for the lesson of polishing our family, heirloom silver.

Like any preteen, I was not excited to partake of this task. In fact, I was blatantly bummed. Personally, I didn’t care if tea was served from a tarnished or a shiny pot. I didn’t like tea, so why should I be concerned over what its serving kettle looked like. My Mom was about to change both my attitude and my lack of wisdom.

Mom’s tutorial began by declaring my eyes saw teapot, but my insight needed to view any, and all, treasures of life as a gift from God. God would entrust many treasures to my life — just as my ancestors had passed on the inheritance of this teapot. My Mother continued her nurturing by clarifying time can tarnish, not only, worldly treasures, but also, the divine ones which God hands down to His family of believers. Neither our material nor spiritual blessings should ever remain dulled by the mire of grime. We are called to the task of accepting the challenge (and our ability) to restore glorious shine to our tarnished possessions — especially the dreams of our human hearts and divine souls.

Illustrating this point, my Mom placed a polishing cloth in my hands. Guiding my fingers, she showed me how to, over and over again, rub hard the tarnished surfaces in order to bring back deep-down glow. Her words re-enforced this process was not magical but the result of hard work and not stopping until outer tarnish was worn off and revitalized inner luster was illuminated.

My wise Mother proceeded to bring home the most important (yet most overlooked) lesson within her polishing cloth. How often we think it takes wealth, rare talent or lottery-like luck to accomplish a goal. On the contrary, what it takes is desire, determination, durability and deliberate deeds.

Years and years have passed, but my Mother’s words seem like today’s proclamation. Never think nor believe you are not good enough to shine or bring your dreams to full illumination. The power of a polishing cloth is not that its material is magical but that its fiber is composed of the power of the miraculous. A polishing cloth is solely nothing more, nor nothing less, than a rag that believes and trusts its soul.